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Retail Trade, Australia

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This publication contains monthly estimates of turnover for retail establishments

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Reference period
January 2020
Released
6/03/2020
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Key statistics

  • The trend estimate rose 0.1%
  • The seasonally adjusted estimate fell 0.3% 
  • In trend terms, Australian turnover rose 2.3%, compared with Jan 2019

Main features

January key figures

  January 2020December 2019 to January 2020
  $m% change
Turnover at current prices  
 Trend27 758.40.1
 Seasonally Adjusted27 632.0-0.3

January key points

Current prices

  • The trend estimate rose 0.1% in January 2020. This follows a rise of 0.1% in December 2019, and a rise of 0.2% in November 2019.
  • The seasonally adjusted estimate fell 0.3% in January 2020. This follows a fall of 0.7% in December 2019, and a rise of 1.0% in November 2019.
  • In trend terms, Australian turnover rose 2.3% in January 2020 compared with January 2019.
  • The following industries rose in trend terms in January 2020: Food retailing (0.2%), Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services (0.1%), and Clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing (0.1%). Household goods retailing (0.0%), and Other retailing (0.0%) were relatively unchanged. Department stores (-0.3%) fell in trend terms in January 2020.
  • The following states and territories rose in trend terms in January 2020: Queensland (0.3%), Victoria (0.2%), Tasmania (0.7%), and the Northern Territory (0.1%). South Australia (0.0%), and Western Australia (0.0%) were relatively unchanged. New South Wales (-0.1%), and the Australian Capital Territory (-0.2%) fell in trend terms in January 2020.
     

Changes in this issue

There are no revisions to the original estimates. Revisions to seasonally adjusted estimates are due to the concurrent methodology for deriving seasonal factors.

This issue includes updated online retail turnover estimates for the January 2020 reference month and updated consumer sales estimates for the December 2019 quarter. The estimates are provided and explained in the appendix section of this publication. As part of the ongoing development of the Survey of Consumer sales, changes have been adopted for the Energy retailing series. This change has resulted in changes to historical data.

Bushfires in January

There was no impact from bushfires on the data collection activities or data quality for this release. Some retail businesses in New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory especially reported negative impacts to retail turnover from bushfires and associated smoke haze. Impacts were apparent in all industries and are included in the aggregate data.

Corona virus (COVID 19) in January

The World Health Organisation (WHO) commenced daily situation reports of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak on 21 January 2020 and identified it as an international health emergency on 30 January. From 1 February, the Australia Government has placed travel restrictions on those travelling to Australia from mainland China.

Whilst some individual retail businesses reported reduced customer numbers attributed to COVID-19 there was no apparent impact on any of the aggregate level data included in this release. It is expected that COVID-19 will impact aggregate retail trade estimates in coming months.

Time series data

  • Data available from the Data downloads section of this issue on the ABS website include longer time series of tables in this publication:
  • Monthly retail turnover by state and 15 industry subgroups in trend, seasonally adjusted and original terms
  • Monthly retail turnover completely enumerated and sample sectors, by six industry groups and also by state in original terms
  • Monthly retail turnover completely enumerated sector, total level in trend, seasonally adjusted and original terms
  • Quarterly retail chain volume measures by six industry groups and also by state in trend, seasonally adjusted and original terms
  • Quarterly retail turnover per capita in trend, seasonally adjusted and original terms
  • Quarterly sales to households by selected service industries in original terms
  • Quarterly measures of total retail turnover per capita.

Analysis - total retail

Total retail - monthly

The chart below shows the trend series and seasonally adjusted series to January 2020.

In current prices, the trend estimate for Australian turnover rose 0.1% in January 2020, following a rise of 0.1% in December 2019, and a rise of 0.2% in November 2019.

The seasonally adjusted estimate for Australian turnover fell 0.3% in January 2020, following a fall of 0.7% in December 2019, and a rise of 1.0% in November 2019.

The original estimate for Australian turnover fell 22.4% in January 2020. The original estimate for chains and other large retailers fell 23.2% in January 2020. The original estimate for smaller retailers fell 20.1% in January 2020.

Total retail - by state

The following states and territories rose in trend terms in January 2020: Queensland (0.3%), Victoria (0.2%), Tasmania (0.7%), and the Northern Territory (0.1%). South Australia (0.0%), and Western Australia (0.0%) were relatively unchanged. New South Wales (-0.1%), and the Australian Capital Territory (-0.2%) fell in trend terms in January 2020.

The following states and territories fell in seasonally adjusted terms in January 2020: Western Australia (-1.1%), Victoria (-0.2%), the Australian Capital Territory (-2.3%), New South Wales (-0.1%), Queensland (-0.1%), Tasmania (-0.5%), and the Northern Territory (-0.5%). South Australia (0.1%) rose in seasonally adjusted terms in January 2020.

Analysis by industry

Food retailing

In current prices, the trend estimate for Food retailing rose 0.2% in January 2020. The seasonally adjusted estimate rose 0.4%. By industry subgroup, the trend estimate rose for Supermarkets and grocery stores (0.1%), and Liquor retailing (0.3%), and fell for Other specialised food retailing (-0.1%). The seasonally adjusted estimate rose for Supermarkets and grocery stores (0.4%), and Liquor retailing (0.9%), and fell for Other specialised food retailing (-1.1%).

Household goods retailing

In current prices, the trend estimate for Household goods retailing was relatively unchanged (0.0%) in January 2020. The seasonally adjusted estimate fell 1.1%. By industry subgroup, the trend estimate rose for Furniture, floor coverings, houseware and textile goods retailing (0.3%), and fell for Hardware, building and garden supplies retailing (-0.1%), and Electrical and electronic goods retailing (-0.1%). The seasonally adjusted estimate fell for Electrical and electronic goods retailing (-2.1%), Furniture, floor coverings, houseware and textile goods retailing (-2.0%), and rose for Hardware, building and garden supplies retailing (0.9%).

Clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing

In current prices, the trend estimate for Clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing rose 0.1% in January 2020. The seasonally adjusted estimate fell 1.1%. By industry subgroup, the trend estimate rose for Clothing retailing (0.3%), and fell for Footwear and other personal accessory retailing (-0.6%). The seasonally adjusted estimate fell for Clothing retailing (-1.2%), and Footwear and other personal accessory retailing (-0.8%).

Department stores

In current prices, the trend estimate for Department stores fell 0.3% in January 2020. The seasonally adjusted estimate fell 2.2%.

Other retailing

In current prices, the trend estimate for Other retailing was relatively unchanged (0.0%) in January 2020. The seasonally adjusted estimate fell 0.1%. By industry subgroup, the trend estimate fell for Newspaper and book retailing (-1.0%), Other retailing n.e.c. (-0.1%), and Other recreational goods retailing (-0.3%), and rose for Pharmaceutical, cosmetic and toiletry goods retailing (0.2%). The seasonally adjusted estimate fell for Other recreational goods retailing (-3.5%), Pharmaceutical, cosmetic and toiletry goods retailing (-0.3%), and Newspaper and book retailing (-0.7%), and rose for Other retailing n.e.c. (1.1%).

Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services

In current prices, the trend estimate for Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services rose 0.1% in January 2020. The seasonally adjusted estimate fell 0.3%. By industry subgroup, the trend estimate rose for Takeaway food services (0.5%), and fell for Cafes, restaurants and catering services (-0.2%). The seasonally adjusted estimate fell for Cafes, restaurants and catering services (-1.2%), and rose for Takeaway food services (1.2%).

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Data downloads

Table 1. Retail turnover, by industry group

Data files
Download xls [167 KB]

Table 2. Retail turnover, by industry group - percentage change from previous month

Data files
Download xls [163 KB]

Table 3. Retail turnover, by state

Data files
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Table 4. Retail turnover, by state - percentage change from previous month

Data files
Download xls [253 KB]

Table 5. Quarterly retail turnover percentage change, volume and price, seasonally adjusted - by industry group

Data files
Download xls [89.5 KB]

Table 6. Quarterly retail turnover percentage change, volume and price, seasonally adjusted - by state

Data files
Download xls [120 KB]

Table 7. Quarterly retail turnover, chain volume measures - by industry group

Data files
Download xls [102.5 KB]

Table 8. Quarterly retail turnover percentage change, chain volume measures - by industry group

Data files
Download xls [106 KB]

Table 9. Quarterly retail turnover, chain volume measures - by state

Data files
Download xls [138.5 KB]

Table 10. Quarterly retail turnover percentage change, chain volume measures - by state

Data files
Download xls [140.5 KB]

Table 11. Retail turnover, state by industry subgroup, original

Data files
Download xls [7.93 MB]

Table 12. Retail turnover, state by industry subgroup, seasonally adjusted

Data files
Download xls [3.21 MB]

Table 13. Retail turnover, state by industry subgroup, trend

Data files
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Table 14. Retail turnover; completely enumerated (large) and sample (small), by industry group

Data files
Download xls [96 KB]

Table 15. Retail turnover; completely enumerated (large) and sample (small), by state

Data files
Download xls [112.5 KB]

Table 16. Retail turnover, completely enumerated sector: Australia

Data files
Download xls [69 KB]

Table 17. Quarterly consumer sales, Australia, by type of activity

Data files
Download xls [51.5 KB]

Table 18. Quarterly consumer sales, Australia, by type of activity - percentage change from previous quarter

Data files
Download xls [42 KB]

Table 19. Quarterly retail turnover per capita, Australia, all series

Data files
Download xls [51.5 KB]

Table 20. Quarterly retail turnover per capita, Australia, all series - percentage change from previous quarter

Data files
Download xls [53.5 KB]

All time series spreadsheets

Data files
Download zip [3.02 MB]

Methodology

Retail Trade, Australia methodology, January 2020

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